Industrial truck



June 1949' H. c. MUSGRAVE INDUSTRIAL TRUCK 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June10, 1946 I l l l 1 1 'IN'VENTORZ HERMAN c. MUSGRAVE, BY M HIS ATTORNEYSH. C. MUSGRAVE INDUSTRIAL TRUCK June 21, 1949.

5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 10, 1946 r mu INVENTOR:

HERMAN C. MUSGRAVE, BY WW HIS ATTORNEYS FIG. 2

H. C.'MUSGRAVE INDUSTRIAL TRUCK $.Sheebs-Sheet 5 June 21 1949.

Filed June 10, 1946 INVENTOR Patented June 21, 1949 INDUSTRIAL TRUCK Hrman Musgtave, s Cl land, Ohio, s: si ner t 'Bewr ot orpo a o Clev land,

a m ta ion of hio Application June 10, 1946, Serial No. 675,7Q

Claims- 1 T s n ention r lates to indu trial li ting trucks. and mo e er.eillarlv to means ea ned b sa d trucks fo rebel-vine loads u on the rcar-- riage a emblies for raising and lowerin he s id assemb e alone themasts. of said trucks, and for ch n in the positions of the load-carryinmembers of said assemblies thereby to facilitate d p sitin the loadscarried thereby in any desired positions and locations. It is thegeneral ob ect of the invention to provide simple and efiective poweroperated mechanism for accomplishing the aforesaid movements of thecarriage assemblies and their IOQJirrCfilIYiIlg members. A furtherobjeet of the invention is to enable all of these operations to bereadily and effectively controllable by the operator.

A still further and more limited object of the invention is to providehydraulically operated means whereby a carriage assembly may be raisedand lowered along its mast and rotary movement may be imparted to theload-carrying member of said assembly at any point in its elevation bythe carriage, thereby to facilitate depositing the load carried therebyin any desired position or location.

In the practice of my invention, the load carrying member of thecarriage assembly is rotated by the bight of a cable extending around asheave which is rigidly secured to the rotating member and the reachesof which cable extend over rollers or pulleys carried by the cross headof the plunger or piston by which the carriage assembly is raised andlowered and the ends are connected to the upper ends of piston rods ofjacks whereby, by the depression of either of the latter piston rods,the sheave and the rotatable member of the carriage assembly may beturned in either direction. As thus broadly stated, the cable isoperatively connected to the sheave and to the piston rods of the jacksin the manner shown, described and claimed in the application of 1?.aulB, querin and e S ria No. were. the Augu t 3. 19%5. n w Patent No.- 39l63b ere ed Ma 7. .19 6.

A an m rov ment ove t e, ee s rilc en s o n and e crib d n the aid a pat on I have. o supported the ends of the reaches of the gable as tonable me t obtain. a double moun o lift o h carria a em l and a dou leangular mov ment of the rotatable member t eof for the same len th atylinde s and pi tons ha are mp d with t e onst u ion hown in h a oresaidapplicat on,

e still u her obieet 9 the nven on is to one ride an mpr ed consolat onand a an ement of parts whereby the; lqtateble member o he ca riage assebly is mo nted fo rotation upon the suppo ting ertism of he a a r aassembly.

I aeeom l sh the. ieree ine ebise s and ot er and m re l mited. b ectsWh te il be e f rth hereina t m a roug the eg le m iion and a ra gem ntb par shown n he ac omp ny n dr wing wh rein Fi 1, re resents a s e letional view of the front portion oi an industr al l t n tr ck. and t emast the ef r and sh w th ar g essemb d the hoisting mechan sm h r an .e.for rot t ng the ,e -e -p m==f meter Pi sai a sembl 9 etructed inaeeorda qe wi h my inv tion. th P n of the rri ge l v ted ein indiratedby roke line and the t ea ortion of the tru k b ing ep esen ed diarammatica ly: Fig. -2 -ant eleva o el iew o the oa -ts il ustrated n lan howin the rotatable load-carryin member o said a sembly in its l adreceivi position; Fig. 3 aview, similar to Fig. 2, showing the rotatableload-carrying member slightly elevated and tilted whereby a load thereonmay be QOnVcniently discharged at a desired angle therefrom, the liftingforks being omitted; Fig. 4 a detail in section taken on the line 4. -4of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 an enlarged central sectional view through therotatable member of the carriage assembly and the cooperating portion ofthe supporting member of said assembly; and Fig. 6 a diagrammatic viewof the means for controllin and supplying liquid to the auxiliarycylinders of the jacks which constitute part of the means for realizingmy invention.

Describing by reference characters the various parts illustrated in thedrawings Ill denotes generally the forward end of the body of anindustrial truck, H one of the front Wheels of the same, and I: one of apair oi sjlgirt plates of the frame A e ind hich are l sate the eerespend ne a m no s o n wh t-h enab the mas o be til d from. ver icalposition Each o the s de members o the mast has secured t the, lowe notion t ereof a heels 1 by which the mast s pivot l-y upp rted item a coss bar 14 which turn may be support d b part o th front d ivi g axl(not shown) the manner illustrated and .described in the patent toWeaver, No. Z.-299A=45, issued Qctober 20, 194:2.

l5 denotes generally the front plate of the supporting member of thecarriage assembly from Opl lQ t sides of which guide plates 16 projectrearwardly and engage the inner surfaces of the channeled side members Bof the mast. These guide plates carry upper and lower rollers l6- (seeFig. 4) which are adapted to engage the front and rear flangesrespectively of the channeled side members of the auxiliary mast in theusual manner, as shown, for instance, in the aforesaid application ofPaul R. Guerin and myself.

I! denotes the main hoisting cylinder which is located between the sidesof the mast and within which the plunger I8 is mounted, said plungercarrying a cross head ill at its upper end. The cross head is providedwith a pair of ears 2!! extending upwardly therefrom and adapted toengage the cross tie 2| which connects the tops of the side members 22of the auxiliary mast. A yoke 23 is shown as connected to the webs ofthe channeled members of the main mast and as extending across the rearof the same.

The construction thus far described is substantially identical with thatwhich has been employed by Towmotor Corporation in its production ofindustrial trucks, and hence needs no further description.

The rotatable carriage member comprises generally a framework consistingof an upper spacer bar 24, vertical side bars 25, centrally locatedvertical reinforcing bars 26, with an upper cross plate '2! and a lowercross plate 28 connected to the vertical bars 25 and 26.

29 denotes a fork-supporting bar which is .position with respect to saidbar by means of U-' .shaped yokes 32, the legs of which are adapted :tobe inserted through openings 24 in the top of the spacer bar 24, withtheir legs embracing opposite sides of the upper ends of the fork arms.

The manner in which the rotatable carriage member is supported forrotation on the supporting member will now be described: 33 denotes a.bearing shaft which is secured, as by welding, to

the front plate I of the supporting member of the carriage assembly andon which there is mounted the inner race 34 of a tapered roller bearingcomprising an outer race 35, a cage or cup 36 and rollers 31. The cageor cup is secured,

therefor in a large sheave 38, the front of the bearing being providedwith a Washer 39. The

cage or cup 36 is also secured, as by Welding, to

-- the cross plate 21.

Cylindrical anti-friction blocks or plugs 40 are as by welding, to thewall of an opening provided inserted within seats provided therefor inthe rear of the body of the sheave 38 and project rearwardly beyond therear surface thereof and engage with their rear faces an annular bearingplate 4! which is secured to the front of the front which areconveniently located within the lower portion of the mast assembly andthe lower ends of which may be pivotally supported in any conplate l5 ofthe supporting member, These blocks -may be made of material known tothe trade as "Powdiron, consisting of fine iron particles unit- 'ed bycompression and impregnated with lubri- .each block through the sheave38, providing venient manner from the base of the mast assembly, asindicated at C, Fig. 3. Each of the cylinders is provided with a pistonrod 43 extending through the top thereof, each of the said piston rodsbeing provided at its upper end with a shackle comprising a. pair oflinks 44 pivotally connected at their lower ends to the top of eachpiston rod and each pair of links supporting at their upper ends ajournal pin 45 on which is mounted a sheave 46.

4'! denotes brackets conveniently secured to a verticallynon-reciprocable portion of the truck, as by being welded to thecylinder ll. Eye bolts 48 extend through apertures provided therefor inthe ends of the bracket arms 41 and are longitudinally adjustable withrespect to said brackets by means of nuts 49 threaded thereon andlocated above and below the respective bracket arms.

The ends 50 of the cable by which the rotating member of the carriageassembly is operated are connected to the eyes 48 of the eye bolts as bymeans of eyes on eye bolts 5| with which hooks the said cable ends havea swivel connection 5P. The reaches of the cable extend around therespective sheaves 46 and thence upwardly around the sheaves 52rotatably mounted on the cross head 19 and thence downwardly along theinner surfaces of guide sheaves 53 mounted upon roller bearings 54 onbearing shafts 55 extending through openings provided therefor in theupper end of the front supporting member 15, the bearing shafts beingprovided at their rear ends with threads for the reception of nuts 56.The guide sheaves are positioned in proximity to the upper peripheralportion of the main sheave and are spaced equidistantly from a verticalplane extending through the center of the bearing shaft 38. The distancebetween the bearing shafts 55 is materially less than the diameter ofthe sheave 38 whereby the cable is caused to exert a strong frictionalgrip upon the groove of the latter sheave.

51 denotes a reinforcing plate welded onto the bottom of the cross plate28 and serving, jointly with the said cross plate, to support U-bolts 58the upper legs of which extend through apertures provided therefor inthe main sheave and in the reinforcing plate and the cross plate 28while the lower legs extend through the said reinforcing plate and theplate '28, with the cable gripped .to the rotatable member.

The lower portion of the front supporting member I 5 is semi-circular,its periphery lying within the periphery of the sheave 38, while itsupper end is approximately semi-hexagonal in shape.

60 denotes the casing for a double valve assembly from which pipe 6|extend to the tops of the cylinders 42, the bottoms of the cylindersbeing connected by an equalizer pipe 62.

With the parts constructed and arranged as described, the operation willbe readily understood. With the piston rods 43 elevated to their fullextent, the rotatable member of the carriage assembly will be supportedin load-receiving position; that is to say, with the forks 3! extendinghorizontally from the lower ends of the said member. With the pistonrods in this position, the carriage, together with the load upon thecylinder through, the equalizing pipe 62;.

forks, can be raisedby supplying operatin fluid to the main cylinder [1.Assuming, however, that it is desired to discharge the load at anydesired point in the elevation of the carriage assembly,

the double valve assembly, indicated at 6!! in 6, will be operated tosupply fluid under pressure through either of the pipes 6! to the top ofthe appropriate cylinder 42,, the fluid displaced from pistons oi thelathe y elievin the pressure on top of the piston in one of saidcylinders and, by

applying pressure to the top of the piston in the other of saidcylinders.

It will be noted that the cable by which the rotatable carriage membermay be tilted can. also serve the function of imparting what is known as'free lift to the carriage assembly, without opert ating the mainplunger 0r piston I8 and without tilting the rotatable member thereof bydepressing equally the pistons 43- in the cylinders 42; and it can alsoexercise the .function of rotating the load carrying mem er of the crria a sembly at any desired point to which i may be elevated either bythe pistons 43 or by the plunger or piston [8. Still further, due to thefact that the ends of the cable, after having been secured to thevertically non-re iprocablepar f the truth are rove around the sheaves46 before being passed over the sheaves 52 and thence around the mainsheave, the lifting movement, as well as the tilting movement, of eitheror both piston rods 43 will be multiplied twice in respect to thelifting or tilting movement imparted to the cable by the said piston rodor rods.

For convenience of description, the rotatable member and the main sheavetherefor have been assumed to occupy the positions shown in Fig. 2,

and the terms top and bottom and upper and lower have been employed indefining the relative positions of these parts but without, anyintention thereby to limit the rotary member and the sheave to theparticular positions there shown,

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In an industrial truck, in combination with the front portion of theframe thereof and a substantially vertical mast supported thereby, acarriage assembly comprising a supporting member slidably mounted uponthe mast and a rotatable member mounted for rotary movement upon andwith respect to the said supporting member, a sheave secured to the saidrotatable member with its axis of rotation coincidental with the axis ofrotation of said rotatable member, and means for imparting rotarymovement to the said rotatable member, the said means comprising a pairof cylinder and piston rod elements, one of the elements of each pairbeing movable with respect to the other element of each pair, a guidecarried by each of the movable elements of each pair of elements, pulleymeans supported on said carriage assembly and disposed above said guidesand sheave and a flexible operating member having its ends secured to anon-reciprocable portion of the truck above said guides and below saidpulley means and extending thence about the respective guides and aboutthe respective pulley means with the bight of the said flexible memberextending around nd. having a dri lnev onnec tion with a portion of theaioresa d shea e.

n the industrial truck set forth. in cla m 1, means for raising andlowering th arriage as! sem ly dependently of said cylinder elements andiston rod elements.

3. In the industrial truck set forth n. laim 1., a main ho s ingcylinder elem n and a plunger clement therein, one of said lements be ngre ciprocable with respect to the othe and com nected to said carria eassem y, the. said recip .rocable eleme t supporting the pulley means.

l, In the industrial truck set forth in claim 1, the mast comprising amain mast and an ex tensible mast m untedior sl ding movement upon thema n mast. a main cylind r and a plunger therein, and a cross head onsaid plunger said pulley means being mounted on said cross head, thecross head being adapted by the elevation of the plunger to elevate theextensible mast and the carria e assembly.

5., In an industrial truck, in combination. with the front portion ofthe frame thereof and a sub stantiall-y vertical mast supported by thesaid portion of the frame, a carri ge as emb y m prising a supportingmem er slida ly moun d upon said mast, a journal secured to the Saidsupporting member and pro ecting forwardly therefr m, an antieiricti n bar ng rotatably mounted u on the i rwa d y p ojecting p rtion of said jurnal an compris ng inner and outer race members, a sheave having acentral opening for the reception of the outer race member of saidbearing and secured thereto, a load carrying member located forwardly ofthe sheave and also secured to the said sheave, a main cylinder and a punger movable in said cylinder having a. cr ss head provided. with apair of rotatable supporting members, a flexible member having its bightex.- tending about the lower portion of said sheave and. round a d aboutthe uppe port ns of said circular supporting members, and rec procablemeans engaging portions of the said flexible member whereby r arymovemen may b im p riod to the said sheave and he tatable carriagemember.

6. In an. industrial, truck, in-combinat-ion with the front portion ofthe f ame thereof and a substantially vertical ma supported by the saidportion of the frame, a carriage assembly comprising a supporting memberslidably mounted upon said mast, a rotatable load carrying membermounted for rotary movement upon and with respect to the supportingmember, a sheave secured to the rotatable member with its axis ofrotation coincidental with the axis of rotation of the said rotatablemember, an annular bearing plate on the front of the said supportingmember concentric with the center of said sheave, antifriction blocks onthe rear of said sheave and engaging the front surface of the saidannular plate, a flexible operating member having its bight extendingaround a peripheral portion of the said sheave, and a pair ofreciprocable members carried by the truck and means carried by the saidreciprocable members for engaging portions of the flexible member.

'7. In the industrial truck set forth in claim 6, means for anchoringthe ends of the flexible member to a, non-reciprocable portion of thetruck, guides carried by the said reciprocable members and in engagementwith which the reaches of the flexible member extend, and rotatableguiding and supporting members interposed between the 7 guides and thesheave and about which the reaches of said flexible member extend.

8. In an industrial truck, in combination with the front portion of theframe thereof and a substantially vertical mast supported by the saidportion of the frame, a carriage assembly comprising a supporting memberslidably mounted upon said mast, a rotatable member mounted for rotarymovement upon and with respect to the supporting member, a sheavesecured to the said rotatable member with its axis of rotationcoincidental with the axis of rotation of said rotatable member, aflexible operating member having its bight extending about the lowerportion of the said sheave and operating means engaging portions of thesaid flexible members for imparting rotary movement to the sheave and tothe rotatable supporting member, a reinforcing plate secured to the rearsurface of the rotatable member with its upper portion intersecting thelower rear portion of the sheave and extending below the said sheave,and a pair of U-bolts each receiving within the bend thereof a portionof the cable extending about the lower portion of the sheave, the upperbranch of each of said bolts extending outwardly through the lowerportion of the sheave, the reinforcing plate, and the lower portion ofthe rotatable carriage member and the lower branch of each boltextending through the reinforcing plate and the lower portion of therotatable carriage member, and nuts mounted upon the outer ends of saidbolts.

9. In an industrial truck, in combination with the front portion of theframe thereof and a substantially vertical mast supported by the saidportion of the frame, a carriage assembly comprising a supporting memberslidably mounted upon said mast, a rotatable member mounted for rotarymovement upon and with respect to the supporting member, a main sheavesecured to the said rotatable member with its axis of rotationcoincidental with the axis of rotation of said rotatable member,journals carried by the supporting member adjacent to the top of saidsheave, the distance between the said journals being materially lessthan the diameter of the said sheave, a guide sheave mounted upon eachof the said journals with its guide groove in alignment with the grooveof the main sheave, a flexible member having its bight extending aboutthe lower portion of the main sheave and about the inner portions of theguide sheaves, and reciprocable members carried by the said truck forengaging portions of the said flexible member whereby rotary movementmay be imparted to the said main sheave and to the rotatable carriagemember.

10. In an industrial truck, in combination with the front portion of theframe thereof and a substantially vertical mast supported by the saidportion of the frame, a carriage assembly comprising a supporting memberslidably mounted upon said mast, a rotatable member mounted for rotarymovement upon and with respect to the supporting member, a main sheavesecured to the said rotatable member with its axis of rotation 00--incidental with the axis of rotation of said rotatable member, journalscarried by the supporting member adjacent to the top of said sheave, thedistance between the said journals being materially less than thediameter of the said sheave, a guide sheave mounted upon each of thesaid journals with its guide groove in alignment with the groove of themain sheave, a main cylinder and a plunger movable in said cylinderhaving a cross head provided with a pair of rotatable supportingmembers, a flexible member having its bight extending about the lowerportion of said sheave and about the inner portions of the guide sheavesand thence about the upper portions of said circular supporting members,and reciprocable means engaging portions of the said flexible mem-- berwhereby rotary movement may be imparted to the said main sheave.

HERMAN C. MUSGRAVE.

REFERENCES CITED The following referenlces are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,377,978 Weber May 10, 19211,878,994 Abbe Sept. 27, 1932 2,106,878 Sinclair Feb. 1, 1938 2,281,004Lehmann et a1 Apr. 28, 1942 2,335,572 Schroeder Nov. 30, 1943 2,399,632Guerin May 7, 1946 2,411,263 Guerin et a1 Nov. 19, 1946

